Advertisers Avoid Sites With Pirated Material

Copyright infringement is not just a concern for copyright holders but for advertisers as well. Smaller advertisers are especially cautious when it comes to video sharing sites. They fear being associated with clips that maybe violating copyright laws.

Mark Karlan senior media planner for Tangible Media, Inc. told MediaPost “”Smaller advertisers are very wary of getting dragged into anything illegal.” He went on to say his clients focus on less at risk sites like AtomFilms, RealNetworks and Ifilm. They do not want to advertise along side illegal content. This means they will not become involved with sites like YouTube or MySpace because of the potential of pirated material.

The other side of the issue is the question of how liable sites like YouTube are for content that is copy written. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act does offer some protection for liability concerning pirated material. If the copyright holder notifies a site of infringement and the site responds by removing the content in question then they are relieved of liability.

The process of notifying sites of infringement is labor intensive. Jonathan Cody, vice president at Fox Digital Media, said,” It’s laborious to have 10 to 15 people combing sites and putting the requests up”.

Site owners have a similar problem when it comes to patrolling for copy written material. The resources to review thousands of uploads a day is nearly impossible from a labor standpoint.

With the technology improving the copyright issue may be resolved to some degree. Until then smaller advertisers will remain weary of sites with potential pirated content.

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Mike is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.